The status and increased following of Nature Religions in Australia

A variety of traditions have contributed to Paganism. It claims to draw on the worship patterns of pre-Christian religions, and particularly those of Nordic and Celtic mythology. However, recent patterns have been influenced more by the occult, as developed by people such as Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner. These people drew on some of the secret societies of 19th and early 20th century Europe, such as the Rosicrucians and the Ordo Templi Orientis.

The latest emergence of Paganism developed from Wicca in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, and did not really form a distinct group until 1970, the year the Pagan Front (later, the Pagan Federation) was formed in London. However, it continued to see itself as "speaking for mainstream Wicca", and saw itself as spearheading the re-emergence of nature religion.

Paganism has been described as revolving around three basic principles, although there has been some disagreement regarding the second of these:

1. Love for and kinship with nature: reverence for the life force and its ever-renewing cycles of life and death
2. "An it harm none, do what thou wilt" (known as the Pagan ethic)
3. Honouring the totality of Divine Reality, which transcends gender, without suppressing either the female or male aspect of Deity.

However, Paganism has developed separately from Wicca, particularly in the United Kingdom; it is not formally structured, Pagans do not have to be initiated into a specific group, and they have few "secret" rites. Wicca, on the other hand, tends to act as a "mystery tradition", operating in small, closed groups which can only be entered through initiation rites involving oaths of secrecy.

The Rise of Witchcraft

Between 1991 and 2001 the number of people, most of whom were women, describing themselves as witches or involved in the Wiccan movement, rose considerably; from 1367 in 1991 to 1849 in 1996 (a 35.3 per cent rise) to 8755 in 2001 (a 373.5 per cent rise).

Despite claims of a long history reaching back to the Middle Ages and earlier times, most historians see the Wiccan movement as originating in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, under the influence of Alexander Saunders and primarily Gerald Gardner. Gerald Gardner had a long history of involvement in secret and occult societies, most of which had arisen in the 19th century. Gardner developed some of their beliefs and rituals and created some of his own.

More recently, some feminists have adopted the Wiccan tradition, and in many places have combined it with beliefs in "the Goddess" as representative of divinity. This stream has generally maintained a non-hierarchical organisation and has been more politically active. It has also has sought to re-write, from a feminist perspective, the stories of the witch burnings of the medieval period, and has found inspiration in those stories and their antagonism to institutionalised and patriarchal forms of Christianity. This feminist stream of the Wiccan movement has placed an emphasis on rediscovering feminine power, divinity and consciousness raising.

Inherent in most forms of Wicca is the idea of a struggle for freedom against the powerful, institutional forces of society, and particularly patriarchal forms of religion. Wicca has promoted the image of witches as women who have been persecuted by patriarchy and derided as evil because of their sexuality and their attempts to be independent and in control of their own lives. The idea of a link with Satan or with evil powers has been eschewed. Contemporary Wiccans will argue that Satan is an invention of Christianity and has nothing to do with the gods of pre-Christian times, or their own worship of the "God" or "Goddess" of the natural world. Rather, the Wiccan source of power is seen as being in nature.

The rituals of Wicca, and several other nature religions, are based on the "Wheel of the Year" and its eight festivals. Through these rituals, the idea of the ever-changing cycle of life, of death and re-birth, is celebrated and the lives of individuals are linked to the changes of the natural seasons.

For many, Wicca involves a protest against the material world, against powerlessness, against the oppression of women, and against repressive attitudes to sexuality. For some, Wicca becomes a protest also against Christianity, which is seen as having failed women in particular.

Followers of all nature religions have various reasons for their affiliations. For some followers, no doubt, these religions are an interesting diversion, while for others it dominates their lives; for some it may be largely an occasional protest, for others a way of finding a new self.